1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer and the like, and more particularly, it relates to an image forming apparatus capable of collecting residual toner discharged during image formation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses utilizing an electro-photographic technique or an electrostatic recording technique, after a toner image formed on an image gearing member such as a photosensitive drum is transferred to a paper (recording material), the toner image is fixed to the paper by fixing means such as thermal fixing means or pressure fixing means, thereby obtaining an image output.
In such an image forming apparatus, after the toner image is transferred to the paper, toner remaining on the image bearing member is removed from the image bearing member by a cleaning device and is then removed as residual toner. Then, the residual toner is conveyed, by residual toner conveying means, to a residual toner collecting container (residual toner bottle; hereinafter referred to as “bottle”) removably provided on a main body of the image forming apparatus and then is discharged into the bottle through an opening provided in the bottle.
Further, an amount of the residual toner in the bottle is detected by full-bottle detecting means or full-bottle guessing means using counter means so that, when the amount of the residual toner in the bottle reaches a predetermined value, an exchanging time for the bottle is informed of, thereby exchanging the bottle to a new one.
By the way, the toner used in the electro-photographic image forming apparatus is characterized in that it has high fluidity and, thus, a top surface (powder surface) of the residual toner in the bottle tends to be shifted by vibration and/or inclination. Thus, upon exchanging the bottle, if the bottle is inclined, the residual toner is easily shifted.
On the other hand, when the bottle is shifted horizontally during the mounting and dismounting of the bottle with respect to the main body of the apparatus or when there is no adequate space in the apparatus above the bottle, a bottle into which the residual toner conveyed by the residual toner conveying means is received through a side opening is used.
However, when the bottle having the side opening is tried to be removed from the main body of the apparatus, the residual toner in the bottle may be shifted by the inclination of the bottle or the like to flow out through the side opening with the result that the interior or neighborhood of the apparatus may be contaminated by the discharged residual toner.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-276021 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 06-26928 (1994) disclose a technique which can prevent toner from flowing out of an opening by orienting the opening of a residual toner collecting container toward an upward direction when the container is removed from a main body of an apparatus.
In the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-276021, as shown in FIG. 12, projections 501 and 502 provided on a residual toner bottle 500 are guided by slits 521 and 522 formed in a support plate 520. When the residual toner bottle is drawn out horizontally in the direction of arrow Z2 from the main body of the apparatus 170, the guiding of the projection 501 is released to achieve a free condition, and, the lower projection 502 abuts an edge 522c1 of the lower slit 522, thereby regulating the guiding movement toward the drawing-out direction. Thus, the bottle can be rotated around the projection so as to direct an opening 503 of the residual toner bottle toward the upward direction.
However, in the arrangement disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-276021, since the bottle can be drawn out in the free condition of the projection 501, the operator may draw out or remove the bottle in a condition that the opening of the residual toner bottle is not completely directed toward the upward direction. Thus, there is a danger of flowing out the toner through the opening of the residual toner bottle.